Single-Walled Common Rail Leak Detection via Segmented Drain Connectors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing high-pressure fuel systems, such as those in internal combustion engines, face challenges in containing and detecting fuel leaks effectively without the need for complex and costly double-walled designs, which are often required by marine safety regulations like SOLAS.
Innovation Solution
A fuel system design featuring a single-walled high-pressure common rail interfaced with double-walled fuel lines through a low-pressure leak containment passage and drain plumbing, including leakage drain connectors and a fuel drain line that directs leaking fuel to a detector, allowing for containment and detection without the need for a double-walled common rail.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If double-walled common rail is used to contain fuel leaks, then leak containment reliability is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the leak containment function to only the fuel lines (double-walled) while the common rail remains single-walled. The leakage drain connectors create separate drain paths for each fuel line, allowing localized leak detection without requiring the entire common rail to be double-walled, thus reducing complexity while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The leakage drain connectors act as intermediaries between the high-pressure fuel lines and the low-pressure drain system. They provide sealing interfaces and drain passages that enable leak containment and detection without requiring the common rail itself to be double-walled, simplifying the overall system structure.
2Reliability
If double-walled fuel lines with gap are used for leak detection, then leak detection capability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the existing low-pressure cooling circuit of the double-walled fuel lines to serve dual purposes: thermal management and leak detection/drainage. The leakage drain connectors tap into this existing low-pressure space, eliminating the need for separate detection systems and reducing manufacturing costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The leakage drain connectors and drain lines serve multiple functions: they provide leak containment, leak detection, and pressure equalization. By making these components multi-functional, the system avoids adding separate systems for each function, thereby reducing overall manufacturing cost while maintaining effective leak detection.
3Device complexity
If single-walled common rail is used, then system simplicity and cost are reduced, but leak containment capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The leak containment function is segmented and applied selectively only to the fuel lines connecting to individual injectors, while the common rail remains single-walled. This segmentation allows the system to achieve necessary leak containment at critical points without the complexity and cost of making the entire common rail double-walled.
Solution Approach 2:
The leakage drain connectors serve as intermediaries that bridge the single-walled common rail and the double-walled fuel lines. They provide the necessary sealing and drain functionality at the interface, enabling leak containment in the fuel lines without requiring the common rail itself to have double-wall construction.
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure provides a fuel system for supplying fuel to an internal combustion engine, an internal combustion engine that includes such a fuel system, a connector for connecting a single-walled high pressure common rail to a double-walled fuel line segment, and a fluid containment system. Each embodiment includes drain plumbing having a leakage drain connector that can be used to provide an interface between a single-walled high pressure common rail and a double-walled high pressure fuel line segment, and also provide part of a low pressure passage fluidly connected with a low pressure passage of the double-walled high pressure fuel line segment. The drain plumbing also can provide an interface with a low pressure fuel drain line fluidly coupled to a leakage detector.